Territory



, (NoModel.) v r v 0 TENSION" DBVICBPOR WIRE PENGBS. y vNo. 400,606.Patented ApLZ, 1889.

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.UI\IITRD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DWIGHT II. soOTT, OF FLORA, DAKOTA TERRITORY.

TENSION DEVICE FOR WI'RE FENCES.

SPECIFICATION' forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,606, dated April2, 1889. Applicatin filed June 2'7, 1888. Serial No. 278,311. (Nomodel.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern: K

Be it known that I, DWIGHT H. SCOTT, of Flora, in the county of CharlesMix and Territory of Dakota, have invented anew and Improved TensionDevice for Wi re Fences, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in tensiondevices for wirefences, and has for its object to provide a means for expeditiouslytaking up the slack in wire fences and retaining the said wire undertension; and the further object of the invention is to provide a devicewhereby a broken strand of wire may be united without injury to thehands, and also wherein, when thus united, the united strand may be putunder any desired tension.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of theseveral parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a side elevation of a section of fence illustrating theapplication of the device. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the deviceattached to a wire, illustrated as having taken up the slack of thesame. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the device; also illustrated as taking'up the slack wire. Fig. 4 is an end View of the device with wrenchattached, illustrating lthe said device in position to unite a brokenstrand; and Fig. 5 is a similar view, the device, however, being .minusthe wrench and detached from the wire.

In carrying out the invention, the device A consists, primarily, of astraight wire rod bent upon itself to form the essentially U-shaped bodyA having a bow-shaped section, awith the ends drawn in or contracted,and the members d and a extending from said point of contraction instraight parallel lines.

The extremity of themember a is bent overV upon itself to form theslightly upwardly-inclined and outwardly-projecting lip h. The extremityof the opposing member a is also bent upon itself and carried a distanceat essentially right angles outward, which arm b thus produced ispreferably `gradually inclined downward and made to terminate in a hook,B, bent at right angles to said arm.

The section a2 of the body A is adapted to be grasped by a wrench, D,consisting of a shank or handle, d, and a head, d', in which head alongitudinal slot, d2, is produced, and an aperture, d3, extendingthrough the side of the head, intersecting said slot. In the lower endof the shank or handle a second aperture, d4, is formed, adapted toreceive a bar, D', which bar, projecting through the handle, is purposedto facilitate the rotation of the wrench. i

In operation, if it is desired to take up the slack of the wire E, thebody of the device is held in a vertical position, the bow-section a2downward, and the wire is entered between the members a and a. Thebow-section o? of the body is now inserted into the slot d2 of thewrench, and a pin, E2, is passed through the upper wrench aperture, d3,and also through the body of the device, as bestillustrated in Fig. 4.

The bar D having been passed through the handle, the wrench is rotatedby means of the said bar D in a convenient direction, which action turnsthe device, causing the wire to wrap or twist itself around the membersof thebody. When the desired tension has been obtained, the hook B ismade to engage the wire in such position that the tension of the strandwill cause the said hook to bear firmly against the same, as illustratedin Figs. l, 2,

and 3. The wrench is then disengaged and the device left in engagementwith the wire strand. The lip b and arm b effectually prevent the wirefrom slipping from the device, and the hook precludes the possibility ofthe wire untwisting unless designedly disengaged therefrom.

In connecting the ends of a broken strand of wire the device ispreferably held so that the arm will be in a vertical position. A loopis formed in each end of the wire and passed over the respective membersof the body, as shown in Fig. 4. The device is then rotated, the hookengaged, and the wrench removed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

IOO

gle piece of wire bent to form an essentially U-Shaped body, anoutwardly-extending lip integral with the extremity of one member, andan outwardly and oppositely extending arm integral with the other memberterminating in a hook at right angles to the arm, substantially as shownand described.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a wire-tension devicecomprising two parallel arms of approximately equal lengths connected byan integral bow, the upper end of one arm having an outwardly andoppositely extending arm integral therewith, whereby the bow may beinserted in a suitable Wrench and the wire twisted about both of saidarms

